I’d been looking forward to today’s two Wales games all week, but this was an occasion where the anticipation was so much better than the actuality. In fact, at the end of it all, deflation is the overriding emotion.
There are two reasons for this. In the first instance, Wales under 21s were on the cusp of a top two finish in their qualifying group for the Euros knowing they had a good chance of qualifying automatically even with a second place finish if they could beat Czechia at Rodney Parade.
However, in a manner that makes you question whether the FAW have really moved on from their bad old days of no training kits and, what was it, an eleven seater aeroplane which the Committee promptly purloined, an “admin error” meant that six members of their squad could not take part in the game!
Apparently, the members of the squad (including full internationals Rubin Colwill and Owen Beck) that had not been involved in the win in Iceland last month had not been registered to play this time – I’d say it was amateur hour stuff, but that’s being unfair to the hundreds of volunteers who do the admin work for all sorts of clubs in local football every weekend.
So, Wales had to play their most important game at this level for more than a decade while feeling the effects of an entirely self inflicted wound and the result was completely predictable as they went down 2-1 leaving them relying on bottom of the table Lithuania avoiding defeat in Czechia on Tuesday to maintain our interest in the tournament.
I’ll return to the under 21s briefly later on, but the second reason for my deflation was that the senior side, after playing so well to go in at half time 2-0 up in their Nations League match in Iceland, ended it lucky to escape with a point in a 2-2 draw and with eleven men still on the pitch as they fell away in abject, sloppy and indisciplined fashion to see two of the first choice team, Brennan Johnson and Jordan James, miss the Montenegro game because of a suspension for two bookings.
Just as in their win in Montenegro last month, Wales made a fast start. Neco Williams, a clear man of the match as he was, for me, our best player in both halves, had already played a lovely left to right cross field pass when he tried another long ball on ten minutes as Harry Wilson got beyond his marker and was put clean through on goal. Hakon Valdimarsson in the home goal half blocked Wilson’s shot and the ball rolled slowly towards the net only for the keeper to claw it clear a foot or so from the line, but all this did was leave the in form Johnson with a tap in from less than a yard out.
Iceland’s defence was struggling to cope with Wales’ runs from deep and with Keiffer Moore dominant, further goals were on the cards – Moore’s close range effort flew straight at the keeper and Wilson had a shot deflected onto an upright, but Wales were not to be denied and another spectacular pass by Williams picked out Wilson again as this time the Fulham man confidently took the ball down and netted from fifteen yards.
Wilson found Sorba Thomas with a similar type of pass to leave him in on goal, but Valdimarsson was able to save this time and with Williams completing his perfect first half with a last ditch clearance off the line, I’m sure I wasn’t the only Welsh fan expecting more of the same in the second half.
Instead, all we got was almost one way traffic towards the Welsh goal. Wales, with Wes Burns on for Johnson, looked complacent and careless right from the start of the second period. Andri Gudjohnsen, son of Eidur, hit the crossbar, but this warning wasn’t heeded as Wales, now shaken out of their complacency, but still giving the ball away so carelessly at times rode their luck to survive until the sixty ninth minute when Iceland were allowed to work a corner routine which gave Logi Tomasson the time to fire a good low twenty yard shot past Danny Ward. Three minutes later, the home side were level when Tomasson dribbled past a labouring Connor Roberts (I’m still trying to figure out what Joe Rodon was doing while this was happening) to the bye line from where his stabbed pull back hit Ward and rolled over the line for an own goal by the keeper.
By now James was fortunate to still be on the pitch following a lunging tackle which I think would have been punished by a red rather than yellow card if it had happened in a club game in the UK and I don’t feel we would have survived for the draw if we’d been a man short for the last twenty odd minutes.
As it was, Iceland, who attacked fluently and with verve in the second half, looked to lose a little of their attacking fervour once they’d got level. However, they had one more quality effort which came off the same post Wilson had hit earlier by Jon Dagur Thorsteinsson with about two minutes left.
Wales held on after that, but Turkey, who beat Montenegro 1-0 at home tonight are now in charge of the group with seven points to our five, while Iceland have four and Montenegro none, but, with our squad suffering from injuries and suspensions, even the pointless Montenegrins will be fancying their chances at Cardiff City Stadium on Monday unless we improve markedly on the second half tonight, as well as the last hour or so in Montenegro.
The under 21s, with Eli King, Joel Colwill and Tom Davies starting, began confidently against a Czechia team that had lost 5-0 in Denmark in their last game. Joel Cotterill, the hero of the win in Iceland, struck the post with a free kick and Colwill then crossed to King whose far post header was well saved by the keeper, but the game turned just before the half hour mark when Matt Baker diverted a Matej Jurassic shot that looked to be going just wide into his own net.
After that, the visitors got on top and Wales could have few complaints about the outcome, but who knows what would have happened were it not for the blundering by the administrators.
Czech captain Vaclav Sejk made it two early in the second half and it was only in the last few minutes that Wales got up a head of steam which tested the visitors defensively – Luca Hoole’s lovely finish with just two minutes of added time left came too late to see any sort of meaningful fight back and so Wales are left hoping for a result from Czechia in four days time which would not be classed as a miracle, but it would be a big surprise.
Just to finish with other age group scores, the Under 19s claimed a creditable 3-3 draw in the first of two games they’re playing away in Italy during the international break, the under 17s were beaten 3-1 by France today after an earlier 1-1 draw with Portugal, while the under 16s have been let down by dodgy defending in the Victory Shield. They scored very late on to secure a 3-3 draw with Northern Ireland on Tuesday before winning the penalty shoot out for an extra bonus point and they scored twice in the closing minutes against the Republic of Ireland yesterday, but that couldn’t prevent them going down 3-2.
